Editor’s Preface to the Revised Edition
As Acts tells the story, the Lord choreographed an encounter between Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. This Ethiopian had a copy of at least some of the Scriptures and was reading from the prophet Isaiah. Hearing him read, Philip inquired, “Are you really grasping the significance of what you are reading?” The Ethiopian responded, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” The result is that Philip shared the good news about Jesus with him and the Ethiopian was baptized as a new Christ-follower (Acts 8:26–40).
It is difficult to imagine a more pressing mandate for the work of a commentary than this: to come alongside readers of Scripture in order to lead them so that they can grasp the significance of what they read—and to do so in ways that are not only informative but transformative. This has been and remains the aim of the New International Commentary on the New Testament. The interpretive work on display in this volume—and, indeed, in this commentary series—can find no better raison d’être and serve no better ambition.
What distinguishes such a commentary?
First and foremost, we are concerned with the text of Scripture. This does not mean that we are not concerned with the history of scholarship and scholarly debate. It means, rather, that we strive to provide a commentary on the text and not on the scholarly debate. It means that the centerpiece of our work is a readable guide for readers of these texts, with references to critical issues and literature, and interaction with them, all found in our plentiful footnotes. Nor does it mean that we eschew certain critical methods or require that each contributor follow a certain approach. Rather, we take up whatever methods and pursue whatever approaches assist our work of making plain the significance of these texts.
Second, we self-consciously locate ourselves as Christ-followers who read Scripture in the service of the church and its mission in the world. Reading in the service of the church does not guarantee a particular kind of interpretation, say, one that is supportive of the church in all times and places or that merely parrots what the church wants to say. The history of interpretation demonstrates that, at times, the Scriptures speak a needed prophetic word of challenge, calling the church back to its vocation as the church. And at other times, the Scriptures speak a word of encouragement, reminding the church of its identity as a people who follow a crucified Messiah and serve a God who will vindicate God’s ways and God’s people.
We also recognize that, although the Scriptures are best read and understood through prayerful study and in the context of the church’s worship, our reading of them cannot be separated from the world that the church engages in mission. C. S. Lewis rightly noted that what we see is determined in part by where we are standing, and the world in which we stand presses us with questions that cannot help but inform our interpretive work.
It is not enough to talk about what God once said, for we need to hear again and again what the Spirit, through the Scriptures, is now saying to the church. Accordingly, we inquire into the theological significance of what we read, and into how this message might take root in the lives of God’s people.
Finally, the New International Commentary on the New Testament is written above all for pastors, teachers, and students. This means that our work is located in that place between the more critical commentaries, with their lines of untranslated Greek and Aramaic and Latin, and those homiletical commentaries that seek already to work out how a text might speak to congregations. Our hope is that those preparing to teach and preach God’s word will find in these pages the guide they need, and that those learning the work of exegesis will find here an exemplar worth emulating.
JOEL GREEN